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New Marine Biology course for hands-on experience as a real scientist

Are you in Year 11 or 12 and thinking of becoming a marine biologist? Then check out the amazing Temperate Marine Biology unit run by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS). The course provides students with key concepts in marine biology plus a real-world, research experience on Maria Island, Tasmania. And REDMAP is offering one student a scholarship for the field trip part of the course!

As part of the University of Tasmania College Program, the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) is now offering a unique Marine Biology experience for all Australian Year 11 and 12 students: XAS101 A Practical Introduction to Temperate Marine Biology.

XAS101 is a field-intensive unit that includes a field trip to Maria Island in Tasmania (run in conjunction with outdoor group wildmob.org) designed to engage, challenge and inspire students through hands-on experience in marine science. It can also count towards both the completion of a degree in Marine and Antarctic Studies and Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) score.

The course is taught by marine biologist Dr Scott Ling who is a Redmap verifying expert and who has spent much of the past decade researching the range-extension of the long-spined sea urchin (Centrostephanus rodgersii) to the east coast of Tasmania including the reefs around Maria Island.

"Maria Island in Tasmania is the perfect marine environment to equip students with the practical field skills required to explore and study marine ecosystems," says Dr Ling.

"The course and field trip teaches skills of observation and the practical sampling methods required to understand the roles of a changing climate in shuffling species distributions, plus the impacts of other human activities such as fishing and pollution."